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Johtnt Randolph TjEwis. 



IN MEMORIAISr. 




BoKN Sei't. •2-2, 18::54. 
Died Feb. 8. 1900. 



DEPARTMENT OF OEORGIA, G. A. R. 






JOHN RANDOLPH LEWIS. 

IN MEMORIAM, 

Headquarters Department of Georgia, 
Grand Army of the Republic. 

Atlanta, Ga., March 8, 1900. 
At the Twelfth Annual Encampment of the Department of 
Georg-ia, Grand Army of the Republic, held at Atlanta, Geor- 
gia, this date, Comrades C. T. Watson, W. H. Smyth and W. 
M. Scott were appointed a committee to draft and present 
suitable resolutions on the death of Comrade John Randolph 
Lewis, late member of O. M. Milchel Post No. 1, of Atlanta. 
Following- is the report as presented: 

Atlanta, Ga., March 8, 1900. 
To the l\cclfth Ainiual Encampmcui. Department of Georoia, 
Grand Arni\ of the Republic. 
Comrades: — It is with great sorrow that the painful duty 
devolves upon us of submitting a record of the death of our 
beloved comrade John Randolph Lewis, which occurred at 
the home of his sister, Mrs. Wm. S. Proudfit, in Chicag-o, 111 , 
February 8th, 1900, where he was resting while on the re- 
turn trip to the East from a journey to the Pacific coast, 
where he had gone to accompany his wife, who had proceeded 
to Dawson City to visit their son, Harold B. Lewis, and other 
relatives. 

His remains were taken to the residence of his sister, Mrs. 
W. L. French, at Buffalo, N. Y., and from thence temporarily 
interred with military honors in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Feb- 
ruary 11th, it being- the intention to later remove them to 
Arlington National Cemetery.ag ?iis final resting place. 






Comrade Lewis was born in Edinboro, Erie Co., Penn., 
September 22, 1834. As a 3'outh he removed to Buffalo, N. 
Y., and studied dentistry with his uncle, Dr. John Eewis, 
afterwards attending- the Philadelphia Dental CoUeg-e and 
obtaining- the D. D. S. deg-ree. Returning- to Buffalo he 
practiced his profession there for a time and was married 
there in 1856 to Frances Helen Mattice. From Buffalo he 
removed to Burling-ton, Vt., and was in practice there at the 
outbreak of the Civil war. 

The call of President Lincoln for 75,000 volunteers to 
sustain the Union of the States broug-ht from him a quick re- 
sponse to what he deemed his duty to his country, and he en- 
listed in the ranks of the First Vermont Volunteers, a three 
months regiment, April 20, 1861, being mustered in as Ser- 
g-eant of Company H, which was immediately ordered to the 
front, and served on the Peninsula and was eng-ag-ed in the 
battle of Big- Bethel. The regiment was mustered out Au- 
g-ust 15, 1861, when he was immediately commissioned Cap- 
tain in the Fifth Vermont Volunteer Infantry, which became 
one of the famous fighting- regiments of the Army of the 
Potomac, in all the bloody campaigns of which it served until 
nearly the close of the war. July 16, 1862, he was commis- 
sioned Major of the reg-iment, being advanced to that rank 
over five senior Captains, and on their united request, which 
was looked upon as a promotion sing-ularly honorable to all. 
Three months later he became Lieutenant Colonel and com- 
manded the reg-iment during- most of its service thereafter, 
its Colonel being- in command of the brig-ade to which it be- 
long-ed. He was commissioned Colonel of the reg-iment, June 
4, 1864. 

At the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, he was 
terribly wounded by a bullet which shattered his left arm, 
necessitating- its amputation at the shoulder joint. To the 
surprise of the surgeons he survived the operation and several 
days ride over rough roads in an ambulance with the lack of 
attention incident to those awful times, his strong- will power 
together with the unremitting- care and nursing- of his de 
voted wife, who very quickly joined him, carrying- him 



throug-h the ordeal, but he never was again a man of health 
and never v^ithout pain, though always cheerful and uncom- 
plaining-. His service in the field was at an end, but other 
duties devolved upon him. Even before he could assume 
them he was commissioned Colonel of the First Regiment 
Veteran Reserve Corps, September 8, 1864, and as Brevet 
Brig-adier General U. S. Volunteers March 13, 1865. 

From September 1864 to June 1865 he served on Boards 
of Examination of officers and men for transfer to the Veteran 
Reserve Corps. Was in command for several months in 1865 
of the Post of Elmira, N. Y. During- the year 1866 he was 
Inspector General and Assistant Commissioner of the Freed- 
men's Bureau at Nashville, Tenn. In 1867 and 1868 he was 
Inspector General on the staff of General C. C. Sibley, Assis- 
tant Commissioner Freedman's Bureau for Georg-ia. From 
1868 to April 28, 1870, he was the Assistant Commissioner 
for that Bureau for Georgia, with headquarters at Atlanta 
His work in that branch of the War Department, unpopular 
and misundertood as it was by a majority of the people, was 
characterized by such ability, justness and honesty as won 
the respect and confidence of all who came in personal con- 
tact with him, and did immeasurable g-ood in those troubled 
times in allaying- bitter feeling- and conflicts between the 
races, and Georg-ia was spared the scandals that obtained in 
some other States in connection with the Freedman's Bureau. 

General Lewis was commissioned Major of the 44th 
United States Infantry, January 22, 1867, and Brevet Lieu- 
tenant Colonel and Colonel U. S. Army, March 2, 1867. He 
was retired with the rank of Colonel U. S. Army, April 28, 
1870, after an active service of nearh' nine years. 

After the adoption of the Constitution of this State of 
1868, which provided for a Common School system, and the 
acts of the General Assembly of 1870 to carry it into effect, 
he was appointed by Governor Bullock State School Commis- 
sioner, and he entered into the work of founding the public 
schools of the State with that intellig-ence, energ-y and devo- 
tion that fully justified his selection for this important duty. 
Many obstacles were to be overcome, but he toiled at it nig-ht 



and day, traveling- over the State, holding- meetings, appeal- 
ing- to influential men, forming school boards, finding school 
houses, setting- teachers at work and stirring up the people 
to a sense of the need of education for white and black. It 
was a labor of love and he performed it with eag-er delight. 
Among- his friends, in after years, he loved to talk of it much 
more than of his military experience, full of honor and heroic 
incidents as they had been. "It was the work of my life," 
he said once with tears of enthusiasm in his eyes. 

The work, however, was short, as political changes made 
his position uncomfortable and he resigned, but in the two 
years of his labors he had laid the foundation of the system 
which we are now enjojnng the benefits of. 

For a number of years after he lived in the North being 
in business in Iowa a portion of the time, but returned to At- 
lanta about 1881, the climate ag-reeing- with him better than 
elsewhere. He was Assistant Secretary of the Cotton Expo- 
sition held that year, contributing- much towards its success. 
He engag-ed in commercial business and was the head of the 
Atlanta Rubber Company until 1890, when he was appointed 
postmaster of Atlanta, continuing as such four years, his fine 
business qualities giving- the city the best postal facilities it 
had ever enjoyed. In 1895 he was the Secretary of the Cot- 
ton States and International Exposition, where his executive 
capacity had full scope and greatly aided in its renowned suc- 
cess, but his labors in its behalf were too arduous and exact- 
ing- for his strength, and after the conclusion of them it gave 
way and he was an invalid until his death. 

Comrade Lewis was an original member of O. M. Mitchel 
Post, aiding- in its organization, September 24, 1884, when it 
became No. 21 of the Department of Tennessee and Georgia. 
At the National Encampment of 1885, held at Portland, Me., 
to which he was a representative from the Department, he 
was elected Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief. When the 
Department of Georgia was org-anized January 25, 1889, he 
was elected its Commander. Many questions of importance, 
not only to the Department, but to the whole organization, 
some of them of a very delicate character, arose during- his 



administration, but with his fine sense of justice and honor 
all were decided in such a manner as to satisfy the various 
interests, and made the labors of his successors in office much 
lig-hter. He became a member of the Ohio Commandery of 
the Military Order of the Loyal Leg-ion of the United States, 
December 2, 1885, but had transferred his membership to the 
District of Columbia Commander}^ a few 3^ears ag-o. 

He thoroughly enjoyed the meetings of the Comrades, 
took a deep interest in and had a hig-h respect for all who 
had gone through the fiery furnace of war, and none in dis- 
tress, whether of the Union or Confederate armies, ever came 
to him for aid and sympathy in vain, and whenever he erred 
it was on the side of a too g-enerous charity, both pecuniarily 
and in overlooking- the faults of others. By his many noble 
traits of character he endeared himself to all his comrades. 
His temper, his affections, his whole nature had a sweetness 
and gentleness in them that won the love and confidence of 
all with whom he associated. Those of us who had the 
privilege of being intimate with him socially and witnessed 
his home life can only know how much he enjoyed it, what 
pleasure it gave him to extend its hospitality to others and 
what a genial, considerate and loving husband and father he 
was. 

Your committee in presenting this memorial of our de- 
ceased Comrade offer for adoption the following resolutions: 

Resolved: That in the death of General John R. Lewis 
we are bereft of a bright ornament, a wise adviser, an active, 
devoted and honored member, and our order a brave and pa- 
triotic soldier and citizen. 

Resolved: That with this memorial we desire to commu- 
nicate to his sorrowing wife and children, and brothers and 
sisters, the expression of our heartfelt sj^mpathy in this their 
great bereavement. 

Resolved: That this memorial be spread upon our records 
and that a cop}" of the same l>e sent to the family of our late 
Comrade. C. T. Watson, j 

W. H. Smyth, ,- Committee. 
W. M. Scott, ) 



The memorial and resolutions were adopted unanimously, 
by a rising- vote, after feeling remarks by several comrades, 
and on motion, the Assistant Adjutant General was directed 
to have them printed in pamphlet form and distributed to 
comrades of the Department. 

Attest: James P. Avekill, Ass't Adj't Gen'l, 

Department of Georg-ia, G. A. R. 




LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




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